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The founder and senior pastor of Word of Life Bible Church, Ayo Oritsejafor, has assessed President Bola Tinubu’s administration since it came to power in 2023.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday night, the clergyman declared that the country has deteriorated further under Mr Tinubu’s watch than under the late Muhammadu Buhari.
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Late Buhari handed over power to Mr Tinubu on 29 May 2023.
The former president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) also recalled how he warned Nigerians against voting for the late Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
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Mr Oritsejafor’s criticism of Mr Tinubu comes amid worsening insecurity, kidnappings, economic hardship and concerns over attacks on Christian communities in parts of the country.
He said, “I intentionally stayed away because in 2014, I tried to warn this nation of the direction it was going. When the Buhari government was getting ready to take office, I knew it was going to be a mess. And I think from there, I don’t know what to call where we are now, but it has gotten worse.
“And it has gotten to a point where I feel I have to say something. I must begin by saying something because I pastor people. They are human beings. They are Nigerians. And we must begin to hold people accountable for what is happening.”
Buhari’s administration
Mr Oritsejafor, a known supporter of former President Goodluck Jonathan, maintained that the late Buhari administration’s treatment of his faith drove him to hold grudges against the regime.
He further stated that Yemi Osinbajo’s service as vice president under the late Buhari did not change who he truly was.
“I hold grudges against them (Buhari government) because they are ready to take their faith to any level…the fact that a Christian was his (Buhari) vice doesn’t change who he was. I listened to a tape by one gentleman about something that happened in Jos, and some of the things he (Buhari) was saying in that tape were frightening to me.
“I mean, it got to the point where he was even crying and weeping and telling the people that they must not allow Christians to do this or do that, you know, and when I say jihadist, look, a jihadist is an extremist. When I say a jihadist, look, you can be a jihadist with your pen,” Mr Oritsejafor noted.
Osinbajo
Additionally, he questioned Mr Osinbajo’s performance as vice president under Mr Buhari.
“You can be a jihadist in so many different ways. It’s not just those who carry a gun. You can be a jihadist by doing everything to make sure nobody else, no other religion, has any place in the governance or in the progress of a nation.
“You talked about Professor Yemi Osinbajo. What was his role? What was he really doing?”
Political influence
Mr Oritsejafor is no stranger to political controversy. A former president of CAN and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), he was one of Nigeria’s most influential religious voices during the administrations of Umaru Yar’Adua and Mr Jonathan.
The cleric later emerged as a vocal supporter of Mr Jonathan, frequently commenting on governance, security and national affairs. In 2014, he faced scrutiny after a private jet linked to him was impounded in South Africa over allegations involving the transportation of cash.
Although he denied wrongdoing and was never charged, the incident intensified criticism from opponents who accused him of being too close to the Jonathan administration.
READ ALSO: Tinubu transmits state police framework to Senate
Widely regarded as one of the country’s most influential clerics at the time, Mr Oritsejafor’s political prominence waned after Mr Jonathan’s defeat in 2015 and his exit from CAN leadership in 2016.
His latest comments on the late Buhari and Mr Tinubu administrations mark a rare return to the kind of political intervention that once made him one of Nigeria’s most influential and polarising religious figures.
The clergyman last made headlines when he revealed he battled and survived cancer and a life-threatening, mysterious infection.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Oritsejafor, who did not disclose the type of cancer he survived, spent months undergoing treatment and bed rest in the United States.
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